kbgibby
Threebeards
Finally had a chance to fill a tag ... even if it was a doe tag. Friday and Saturday after Christmas I hit my uncle's river farm in NW Iowa -- 80 acres of timber and CRP with the east fork of the Des Moines running through it. Spent half a day Friday but the damn pheasants were so thick they warned all the deer for miles around.
Saturday was really windy out of the southwest but warm enough to melt the snow so at least it wasn't crunchy. Bumped one doe early and spent four hours still hunting the first half of the timber. Bumped three does about 12:30 so quickly cut over and setup at the base of a big oak. Pulled out the tube and gave a couple of bleats. Two minutes later, I had deer everywhere ... at least a dozen does that I counted. I sat tight but the lead does were about to get downwind so I picked out the biggest doe I had a clear shot at and pulled the trigger. Shot went a little high and she ran a couple hundred yards and bedded down in some switch grass. I jumped her and she went a little further before I could put in a clean head shot.
The worst part was with the melt, the lane was too greasy and I didn't want to tear it up so I had to drag her about a half-mile and wondered if I shouldn't have taken a smaller one. Didn't have the "Big Mama" sheet with me so don't know what she scored but was in prime condition ... fat on her rump was over an inch thick!
Still have tags but don't know if there'll be time between now and Saturday.
Threebeards
Saturday was really windy out of the southwest but warm enough to melt the snow so at least it wasn't crunchy. Bumped one doe early and spent four hours still hunting the first half of the timber. Bumped three does about 12:30 so quickly cut over and setup at the base of a big oak. Pulled out the tube and gave a couple of bleats. Two minutes later, I had deer everywhere ... at least a dozen does that I counted. I sat tight but the lead does were about to get downwind so I picked out the biggest doe I had a clear shot at and pulled the trigger. Shot went a little high and she ran a couple hundred yards and bedded down in some switch grass. I jumped her and she went a little further before I could put in a clean head shot.
The worst part was with the melt, the lane was too greasy and I didn't want to tear it up so I had to drag her about a half-mile and wondered if I shouldn't have taken a smaller one. Didn't have the "Big Mama" sheet with me so don't know what she scored but was in prime condition ... fat on her rump was over an inch thick!
Still have tags but don't know if there'll be time between now and Saturday.
Threebeards
